Purpose: To convince the editor you are well-versed on your issue and able to fairly assess the other positions on it.

Requirements: For this assignment, I will expect you to do the following, though not necessarily in the following order (you determine the organization):

--Define your issue with a clear focus; at this point, a question will probably serve you best since you may not have defined your own position as yet.

--Summarize at least three positions on this question that you find in your research (one of these may also come from the class readings).

--Offer an example for each position and an analysis of it: who takes this position? why are they taking this position? what does it say about their interests/possible biases?

--Compare and contrast the three positions: what similarities do they share? where do they diverge? which position is most like the others or are all three widely divergent?
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--Conclude with a brief proposal of what you will write about. What position might you take? Based on your analysis of the context, who do you think you will address your argument to and why? What kind of research do you plan to conduct?